Former capitol hill intern leads a program to help others get an opportunity in the halls of power they cannot afford on their own. Its thursday, august 1st, 2019. Here is todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. This idea is a bunch of malarkey. If youre debating donald trump hes in the going to let you off the hook. Youre dipping into the koolaid and you dont even know the flavor. Sparks fly at the latest democratic debate. Your time is up. We need a politician that actually has some guts on this issue. Thank you, mr. Secretary. I have guts enough to say his plan doesnt make sense. Osama bin ladens son has been killed. Apparent heir to lead al qaeda died in a military operation. In california, the search is on for a pilot of a Navy Fighter Jet that crashed in Death Valley National park. Mountainous, rugged, remote. Its going to be challenging. Explosion at an exxonmobil refinery outside of houston injured 37 people. An incredible boom. I said exxon just blew up. On wall street, stocks fell, despite the Federal Reserve cutting Interest Rates for the First Time Since 2008. Investigators in pennsylvania are looking into a massive explosion that leveled a home. Debris flying everywhere. All that. A wave pool malfunctioning at a water park in china, creating a giant tsunamilike wave. And all that matters. The first thing that im going to do when im president is im going to clorox the oval office. Brought to you by clorox, the commander in bleach. Cbs this morning. A lot of people watching the debates want to hear about taxes this kid named donnie got an early lesson from monopoly. Where is all your money going, donnie . Taxes. Its okay. Its part of the game. No, its not. Its not fun. Its not fun to what . Its the worst part of the game. Is what . Taxes. This mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. The kid is not wrong. Hes right. It is the worst part of the game of life. April 15th every year as well. I know but you have to pay for our infrastructure. Yes, youre right. The best country in the world. Isnt that what we say . Okay. Welcome to cbs this morning. Im Tony Dokoupil with Anthony Mason. Gayle king is off. Michelle miller is here. String of attacks on frontrunner joe biden. The former Vice President had to repeatedly defend his record on everything from health care, immigration, to criminal justice. Following a debate in june when Kamala Harris gained ground by attacking biden. Ed okeefe is in detroit where he covered last nights faceoff. How did biden respond this time . Reporter well, anthony, it was a stronger defense of his record than last month but it was, by no means, smooth. At the beginning of the night, joe biden shook hands with Kamala Harris and was heard to say, go easy on me, kid. But nobody on stage did. Mr. Vice president , you want to be president of the United States, you need to be able to answer the tough questions. The house was set on fire and you claimed responsibility for those laws. Reporter for the second time, former Vice President joe biden found himself under fire from the rest of the democratic field. If you cross the border illegally, you should be able to be sent back. Its a crime. It look like one of us has learned the lessons of the past and wuven us hasnt. Reporter this time, biden saw it coming. This idea is a bunch of malarkey. Reporter and took on senator Kamala Harris on health care. The senator has had several plans so far. Any time someone tells you youre going to get something good in ten years, you should wonder why it takes ten years. Theres no talk about in ten years the plan will cost you 1 trillion. The reality is that our plan will Bring Health Care to all americans for medicare for all system. Under your plan, status quo, you do nothing to hold the Insurance Companies to task. I have the only plan that limits the ability of Insurance Companies that charge reasonable prices. Harris herself became a bigger target, forced to defend her past record as californias attorney general. She laughed about it when asked if she ever smoked marijuana after putting hundreds in jail for it. I did the work that became the National Model for the work that needs to be done and i am proud of that work. Reporter it was bidens long record that got the most attention, even when he tried to pivot. Why did you announce the first day a zero tolerance policy of stop and frisk and hired Rudy Giulianis guy in 2007 when i was trying to get rid of the crack cocaine . Mr. Vice president , youre dipping in the koolaid and you dont even know the flavor. You need to come to the city of newark and see the reforms that we put in place. You are trying to shift the view from what you created. Reporter biden tried to turn the attacks back toward president trump. Eight more years of donald trump will change america in a fundamental way. The america we know will no longer exist. Reporter so, when democrats meet again in september, we expect to see fewer candidates on stage because of stricter qualification rules. By then, candidate will have had to have found donations from at least 130,000 people from across the country and be earning at least 2 in at least four polls. So far, only seven of the two dozen candidates have qualified. Theyve got until the end of august to make it. Anthony . One month, ed. Thank you. Chief washington correspondent major garret is here for more on last nights debate and the next one ahead. Major, as ed pointed out, it looked like biden did better last night but not entirely smooth. What does his camp think . Last night he came in as a plane losing altitude and air speed. Not a good thing in politics or avianics but two of the four engines kicked in, like a dramatic movie. He stabilized. If i was on the plane i would still be nervous. Thats right. You would still be nervous f youre a biden supporter, youre like, okay, we stabilized but not a ringing performance. At a macro level he said all right, i stabilized. On his history and his vision for the future, he has a lot of work to do. Cory booker and Kamala Harris were attacking on lanes that are important to them in South Carolina, predominantly. Africanamerican voters currently are preferring joe biden over the two of them. Thats why you saw such intense concentration and vernacular along those lines, the koolaid line. A good night for 70s popular household brands, clorox and koolaid. Thats good. Cory booker, who delivered that great line, never really delivered an answer to the question. So, he needed to sort of prop up his sales in this debate. Did he . Sure. It was a nice deflection. It was very well crafted. Cory booker has a newark story. There are things that happened on his watch that are very positive in terms of new investment and new businesses, and some jobs, but crime and criminal justice is not a strong suit of his time as mayor of newark. And joe biden has his long history. Now he could say in the 1990s when this legislation was passed we had a serious crime problem in this country. Were there unintended consequences . Yes, there were. I learned from them. What im surprised by joe biden on this issue hasnt said look, go back to statistics. It was bipartisan. It was a huge issue. He doesnt seem that comfortable with the basic part of his legislation history. Thats why he has two engines, not four. Kamala harris record came under fire also last night. Sure. Did she lose ground . She figured out last night what it means to be something that is an it. Shes a player. Youre a player now and your record is up for scrutiny. You can get harsh attacks. Whoa, wait a minute, where did that come from . Thats part of this process. For the very same community, africanamerican community, her record as a prosecutor, attorney general in california, is part of the scrutiny. She was less comfortable there for someone who did so well in the first debate as a prosecutor, was less comfortable being a defense witness. Only seven people have qualified for the next debate, as ed okeefe has pointed out. Youll see a larger i think a lot of people will fall out. Jay inslee, andrew yang, Michael Bennet did themselves some good, Kirsten Gillibrand did herself some good. I think those people will get into the next debate, not so much from the first night. Hundreds of feet of flames into the sky southwest of lexington. Witnesses say it was visible for miles. It destroyed several homes. Lincoln county coroner confirms at least one death. Five other people were taken to the hospital. Residents who live within a mile rays radius were evacuated. Emergency Officials Say it was caused by a ruptured gas line. Cause of an explosion at a hugh houston area refinery that injured 37 people is under investigation this morning, the blast triggered a fire at the exxonmobil plant in baytown yesterday. Huge plumes of black smoke stretched into the sky and many hurt suffered burns. People living nearby were told to shelter in place for hours. This is a series of incidents at petro facilities alone. Cbs news has been told that obls son has been killed in a military operation. Hamza bin laden was killed. David martin, good morning. Reporter good morning. The facts that surround the operation remain murky. Its not clear when and where it happened although he was thought to be operating somewhere along the border between afghanistan and pakistan. Officials say u. S. Intelligence recently monitored conversations among members of al qaeda, debating whether or not to keep hamzas death a secret or acknowledge it and celebrate him as a martyr. U. S. Officials believe he was killed in a strike even though he was not the target. With his fathers name and charisma, hamza represented the future of al qaeda, even though ayman al zawahiri, bin ladens longtime deputy, has led al qaeda since the 2011 raid which killed its leader. The United States conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. Reporter letters captured in the 2011 raid indicated that bin laden was grooming hamza to be the next leader. Zawahiri didnt measure up to bin laden. Theres not another hamza behind him. Reporter Fran Townsend was george w. Bushs counterterrorism adviser. You take out somebody like that at the top of an organization and an organization is going to flounder for leadership. Reporter as recently as last february, the u. S. Believes hamza was alive and offered a 1 million reward for information leading to his capture or death. Al qaeda tried to protect hamzas identity by not releasing pictures of him as an adult. The video of his wedding was released by the cia after it was captured in the raid, which killed his father. President trump brushed aside questions about hamzas killing wednesday. I dont want to comment on it. Reporter without hamza, al qaeda is an aging organization. A recent pentagon report said it poses a very limited threat to the u. S. In afghanistan, which, of course, was once the base for the 9 11 attacks. Anthony . David martin. Thank you, david. The fate of a u. S. Navy Fighter Pilot is still unknown after his plane crashed during a routine Training Mission in california. It happened yesterday in Death Valley National park near an area dubbed star wars canyon. The fa18 super hornet jet, like the one you see in these pictures, exploded on impact. Seven park visitors at a scenic overlook were treated for minor burns and cuts. The area is popular with Aviation Enthusiasts trying to catch a glimpse of fighter jets flying at low level. The cost of borrowing is coming down for the First Time Since the 2008 financial crisis. The central bank lowered the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point just yesterday. The decision could make it easier for consumers to borrow money on everything from credit cards to car loans. Cbs News Business analyst Jill Schlesinger is here. Im confused. The economy is supposed to be well, yet the Federal Reserve is cutting its Interest Rates. Why . The fed says Global Growth is starting to impact u. S. Growth. Things are slowing down. Even the central bankers are saying things are good. Teyre not great. Theyre concerned about that deceleration. One of the things they noted as a rationale for cutting rates, trade uncertainties, which is really crimping growth. Thats a big issue. And finally theyre worried that prices are not rising fast enough. It may seem a little weird to imagine this. The fed wants a little bit of inflation, but not too much inflation. The reason is they want people to get wage increases and spend more money in the economy. That was their joint rationale. How does this affect consumers . Thats the best question. We only care about the Federal Reserve as it pertains to our lives and weirdly, dont gloss over. The fed controls almost everything we do. Lets say youre a saver. You have a bunch of money in the bank. Youre not happy. Fed cuts rates, you earn less interest. Conversely if, youre a boroer, youre starting to dance a little jig. It is expensive to carry credit card balances. It will get a little less expenses. Mortgages, Student Loan Debt . Mortgages key off a different rate. Its a longer term rate. Good news there is that longterm Mortgage Rates are at threeyear lows. Think about student loans, probably not a lot of help there of the student loan rates for the federal program are set once a year. They were just set early in july. Theyre down a little bit but theyre not going to move. Those are in stone. If you have a private student loan and its a variable loan, you may see some relief. Here is what everyone is afraid of. Does this mean that there are signs a recession is on the horizon . Thats not what the Federal Reserve is saying. I dont speak to economists who say an imminent recession is upon us. Theyre saying this slowdown is happening. The fed wants to get ahead of it. Thats the reason why theyre cutting rates today. Whether or not we see a recession any time soon is anyones guess. Anyones guess. You heard it from Jill Schlesinger. Thats right. Im not going on the record with that one. Jill, thank you. Rapper asap rocky took the witness stand at his assault trial in sweden a short time ago. Along with his cousin and friend, hes accused of attacking a 19yearold man in stockholm last month, a charge they deny. President trump and american celebrities have called for their release and our Roxana Saberi is in stockholm. Reporter he admitted that he threw him to the ground but only after he attacked his bodyguard and also told the judge he repeatedly told him to leave him and his friends alone but appeared to be under the influence of drugs. Thats when i intervened and i threw jafari to the ground. And i stepped on his arm. I kicked his arm and i punched him or shoved him. Reporter the video has gone viral. The rapper, his cousin and friend have pleaded not guilty and lawyers say they were acting in selfdefense. Jafari accuses the americans of hitting him with a bottle. Legal experts say if true, that would be crucial to the case and the men would automatically be sentenced to prison at least one year. Rocky said today he picked up a bottle but did not use it. Also in court, we saw the president s special envoy for hostage affairs. Rockys mother was also here, wearing a shirt bearing her sons name. The trial could last until next week. Then the judge has up to two weeks to issue a verdict. Roxana saberi in sweden. Thanks, roxana. The fathers of two american. Cool down a bit today from yesterday and a couple of degrees below average. The numbers are two to three degrees below yesterday. 80 in san jose. 65 in san fron. And the upper 80s for inland locations. For the next few days, trend is back up. Friday is a little bit warmer. Saturday a little bit still. And then well cool down in the middle of next week. We have much more news ahead. Body camera video shows First Responder struggling to deal with a mentally ill man who was killed hours later. Only on cbs this morning, his parents explain why they believe police and emts did not do their job. Plus, newly released evidence shows the faa expected the boeing 737 max to fail again after the first of two deadly crashes. And a retired nfl player who beat cancer joins a long list of people suing the did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes . 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